View of the Vale of Glamorgan looking due south from "The Rocks"  - "The Rocks" is an outcrop of cross-bedded Pennant Sandstone marking the elevated rim of the synclinal South Wales coalfield. They overlook the Ewenni Fach brook and the hamlet of Llanharan, and the ancient Ffordd Y Bryniau road linking Llantrisant to the Ogmore Valley. "The Rocks" can be accessed from Thomastown via the 'Roman Road' linking Thomastown and Brynna/Llanharan, or by the road passing through Graig Fatho farm to its junction with the Ffordd Y Bryniau road. 

'The Rocks' - "D'duw Cariad Yw"  - the Welsh words "D'duw Cariad Yw" (God is love) carved in the the sandstones.

 The following is extracted from 'Tonyrefail: the story of a community', by Walter Jones, 1997, D.Brown and Sons, Ltd, Cowbridge, p. 90-93.

The sinking of Coed Ely Colliery, some two miles to the south of the old  village, led to the formation of new villages which for many years were quite independent of the older community. The limited transport facilities at that time had led to a demand for new housing within easy walking distance of the new coal mine and coke works.

Thomastown was the first of these new communities to be built between 1908-9. It was built on land owned by the Ynys y Plwm estate of Mr William Meyler Thomas J.P, which he had inherited from his aunt Mrs Margaret Cozens in May 1901. Her obituary appeared in the Western Mail for 25 May, 1901 and reveals the extent of the Estate and the circumstances leading to her nephew's inheritance:

'The death of Mrs Cozens of Ynys y Plwm took place on May 22nd 1901. She was the wife of Collwyn Cozens who predeceased her by many years. She was the owner of most of the pretty valley of the Ely river from below Llantrisant to Tonyrefail, a distance of between five and six miles. Her husband was the owner of Fforch Nest, to the west of Penygraig which he sold to the Naval Colliery. She died childless but had absolute power of disposing of her landed estates, that power having been bequeathed on her by her husband. The deceased lady is a native of Haverfordwest'.

Collwyn Cozens had inherited the land as a result of the marriage, in 1831, of his father the Reverend James Cozens of Tenby to Crisley the daughter of John Thomas of Ynys y Plwm. The family seem to have spent most of their time in Pembrokeshire especially after the death of Collwyn Cozens in 1880.

Indeed in the census of 1891 it was her niece and nephew, Elizabeth and Edwin Thomas, who were residing at Ynys y Plwm. Their brother William Meyler Thomas seems at the time to have been with his aunt in Haverfordwest. He sold the mineral rights soon afterwards to the Welsh Navigation Coal Company and it was on his land at Tontraethwg that the village of Thomastown was built between 1908-9 . The village is, indeed, a memorial to the family as each of the streets is named after a family member: Meyler Street clearly after himself; Elizabeth and Francis Streets after his relatives.

Whilst Pembroke and Haverford Streets were so named because of his and his ancestors' links with that county. His obituary of 6 November 1917 shows how the wealth he had accumulated led to a position of importance in Glamorgan, Welsh and indeed English agricultural affairs:

'The late Mr W. Meyler Thomas, who died on Sunday at the age of 67, was a Pembrokeshire gentleman who years ago inherited the residence and estate known as Ynys y Plwm. This property is in the fertile Ely Valley and lately has become valuable because of the discovery of coal beneath it. It is all in the area taken by Messrs. David Davis and Sons Ltd.

A pioneer member of the Glamorgan Chamber of Agriculture he as also delegate to the Central Chamber of Agriculture since 1906 and was a member of the Agricultural Council of Wales and the committee of The Royal Bath and West of England Show'.

From the outset Thomastown was designed as an independent community. It had its own public house, the Ely Hotel (which opened on August 1st, 1912 and served free beer for the day), a post office, a chapel and ten shops for 120 houses. In Meyler Street there was a greengrocer's, a general grocer's, two sweet shops, a cobbler's, a haberdasher's and a fish and chip shop. Pembroke Street had a general store, a second-hand clothes shop and a police house.  Elizabeth Street soon had a new co-operative stores to replace an earlier Thomas & Evans Stores as well as the post office and hotel, whilst behind 'the Co-op' was a bakery. A Captain Payne ran the Ely Hotel and a Captain Webber the Bakery. The earliest form of entertainment was a 'Biorama' which was an early form of 'pictures' and was held in a tent on the site of the present club's car park. During the 1921 strike Mr Arthur Evans - 'Long Arthur' - built a cinema with the aid of the striking miners. Beneath the cinema was a billiards room. The silent films, which included such films as 'Charlie Chaplin and the Kid', shown at the cinema were accompanied by a number of talented local pianists amongst whom were Idris Evans of Garth Hall and Rhys Williams an accomplished member of the Pen Wen family. Jenny Williams, another member of the family, sang 'Song Cycles' during the intervals between the films. This leisure attraction which was known as the Kozy Club burnt down in 1925 and was rebuilt as a dance hall which was in turn taken over in 1930 by the present day club which is still registered as 'The Thomastown Kozy Club and Institute'.

On the hill above Pembroke Street was the 'new' house, of the Agent of Coed Ely Colliery, built on the site of the old Tynycoed farmhouse. At the same time Pentwyn House was built on the lane leading to Gelli Seren farm. It was here that Mr Edwards the manager of the colliery lived. He travelled to work in a horse and trap and the children would often race each other to collect the penny or half penny he threw to them for opening the gate at the end of the lane. It was to Pentwyn House also that the children went on New Year's Day to collect their calennig of an apple and a penny.

 Cwmlai School was built just the other side of the Ely River to serve both Thomastown and the new communities of Nantmelin and Penygarreg.  Nantmelin and Tyicha Fach were built between 1908-10 by a Mr Ben Swindon and for a while were known as 'Swindon Houses'. Penygarreg followed soon afterwards and was occupied by 1911. This road was intended to be a shopping centre and all the houses were designed with large front windows and with access to the upstairs from the back kitchen, leaving the hallways as entrances to the shops. In the event, only one of these houses ever became a shop and the new hotel, the Imperial, built opposite the houses was never granted a licence. Instead for a number of years it served as the place of worship of the local church members and in its later days was used as a button factory before it was demolished and replaced by new housing in the late 1960s.

Some 200 yards further along towards Tonyrefail a row of larger bay windowed houses named at first Tylcha Wen Crescent - later Terrace - was  built to house officials of the Coed Ely Colliery who moved down from the parent colliery at Ferndale. The local perception was that these were favoured employees who were often given the best jobs. One such job underground was that of cutting pwcins - caused by pressure lifting the ground under the rails. These had to be cut regularly and the task was considered quite a perk. Thus the nickname of the terrace for many years was Pwcins Terrace. With the building of these houses came the building of the road directly up to Tonyrefail which greatly improved communications in the area. Coed Ely village built opposite the Coke Works just above Garth Grabban corn mill was again built on land owned by Meyler Thomas. The streets are also named after his relations. The mill which gave its name to Garth Street had been powered by a leet running from a weir built across the River Ely where it was joined by the Nantmelin stream, but was only to continue working for a few years after the opening of the colliery and coke ovens.